Everybody Knows
by Person4
Summary: It was Cory's pride that made Shawn lean forward and kiss him.  Written for Yuletide 2006.


"_That's_ my girl," Cory said proudly, grinning down at Topanga from the hill he and Shawn were sitting on together. She was being given a Certificate of Merit in some awards ceremony they mayor was holding. Shawn didn't really understand why they'd suddenly decided to throw together an occasion like this honoring high school kids, but he was pretty damned sure that it had something to do with it being a reelection year. "Best grades in the city," Cory was continuing on, grinning broadly. "Who'da thunk it?"

"Well, she _is_ pretty smart," Shawn said. "If it was _me_ up there it'd be a surprise. Topanga's more like a sure thing, unless Minkus had gotten it." 

For a second Cory let confusion break into how happy he was for Topanga. "Where's Minkus been all these years anyway?" 

Shawn shrugged carelessly. "You're asking _me_?" 

"You're right. Dumb question." Cory turned back to the stage, his smile returning as Topanga began giving a short speech. "Don't even try to lessen this day, Shawny. _I_, Cory Matthews, am dating the smartest girl in the city. The hottest too. Am I or am I _not_ the luckiest guy around?"

It was Cory's pride that made Shawn lean forward and kiss him in front of Topanga, the mayor, Mr. Feeny, and everyone else in the audience if any of them had taken a second to look up at the hill instead of at the stage or at the bleachers. It was a cliché to think that Cory glowed with it, but, Shawn thought, things only became cliché because they were so fitting. And who would look up anyway?

"All right, all right already," Cory said with an easy smile when they broke apart. "I'm dating the hottest guy in the city too. Are you--" He broke off his words with a horrified expression on his face, staring down at the stage below them. Wondering what was up, Shawn turned his head to look at what was freaking him out so badly, and saw Topanga staring straight up at the two of them.

Okay, so _one_ person had decided to look up after all. Too bad it was the worst possible person of all.

• • •

An hour after the ceremony Shawn burst into Topanga's room. He knew he only had a little while before Cory got over his freaking out and came to see her himself, and Shawn knew he had to try steering her anger mostly toward himself before that happened. "Listen, Topanga," he said quickly, before she could get out a word of her own. "That was _all_ my fault today. Cory didn't have anything to do with it. In fact, he was talking about how much he loved you when I did it."

That said, he paused and actually looked at her, and was surprised by how calm she seemed. He'd been expecting her to be crying, or angry, or to throw something at his head as soon as he stepped in the room. Instead she looked like she was enjoying her own private joke. "Shawn, I know," she said.

"That it's my fault?" He asked, trying to make sure that he'd gotten the important point across.

"About you and Cory. I've _always_ known about you and Cory. Heck, anybody who's ever been in the same room as the two of you for more than a few seconds knows about you and Cory. The _mailman_ knows." She patted the spot next to her on her bed, silently offering him the seat, and said, "It's okay."

He sat, thinking that he would never stop being confused after this conversation had finished. "You knew? And you never said anything?"

She smiled a little sadly, and put her hand over his, squeezing it in an offer of comfort. "I'm going to marry Cory one day," she said instead of answering, and both of them were completely sure that she was speaking the truth. "We're going to have a home together, and we're going to have children together, and we're going to be happy for all of our lives. And... you're going to be there too, because there's a part of him that needs you to be happy, and it's a part of him I'll never be able to touch. I knew that going in."

"You don't mind?" 

She took a deep breath, and released it with a sigh. "I _can't_ mind," she admitted, "because if I did, and I made him choose, I don't know whether he'd pick me or not. But I'm happy, _really_. As long as most of his time is spent with me, it's okay if he gives a little of it to you." Then, so quietly that he wouldn't have been able to make out the words if he hadn't been sitting right next to her, "He was yours first, after all."

• • •

Shawn met Cory on the sidewalk when he was walking away from Topanga's home. "Hey," he said, and Cory nodded back at him, but Shawn could see how Cory was trying to keep a distance between them. "_Hey,_" he said again, closing it and resting his hands on Cory's shoulders, "It's okay, Cor."

"Okay? _Okay?_" Cory repeated, and Shawn could tell that he was already working himself into one of the fits he had sometime. "I'm going to lose the _love of my life_ because you couldn't wait _ten minutes_ to--"

Shawn covered Cory's mouth with his hand before he could say anything he could regret. "I just came from Topanga's house, and it's okay."

Cory blinked at him blankly, and Shawn mentally counted down the seconds before he processed what he'd just been told. _Four... three... two..._ "Wait, you mean it's really okay?"

"She already knew."

"How could she know? We've been so _good_ about keeping it a secret." 

"Not good enough, it looks like. Apparently even the mailman knows."

"Chuck?" Cory frowned to himself. "Well, that _would_ explain why he acted so sorry for me when I didn't get a card from you on Valentine's Day." He poked Shawn in the chest. "Why _didn't_ you send me a card? Topanga sent me a card."

"Cor, I've _never_ given you a card on Valentine's Day. And you don't give me one either, so you've got no right to get mad at me about it. And even if you could that was months ago. Too late."

"Oh, yeah." Cory accepted that answer, then turned his attention back to the issue at hand. "So, she's _really_ okay with it?" 

"Well, she did have _one_ condition."

"I _knew_ it! She wants me to break it off with you, right? Or, to climb to the top of a mountain and scream my love for her to the world to prove that I love her best. Or dive to the bottom of the sea and find a perfect pearl as a sign of my devotion. Does she want _blood?_"

"Where do you _get_ this stuff?" Shawn asked, giving him a weird look.

"Well, sometime my mom leaves these cheesy romance novels lying around, and when there's nothing better to do... that's not the point! What does she want?"

Shawn smirked. "She wants to watch sometimes."

He hoped that Topanga would forgive him for the little lie, but the expression on Cory's face made it all worth while.


End file.
